DOCUMENT No. 117
"There Must Be No Scuttle Policy!"

NOTIFICATION ACCEPTANCE

SPEECH OF SENATOR LODGE
REPLY OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

Speech of Senator Lodge
at Canton, Ohio, July 12, 1900, Notifying President McKinley of
his Nomination for the Presidency by the Republican National
Convention at Philadelphia, June 19, 1900 :
Mr. President :
This Committee, representing every State in the Union and the organized
Territories of the United States, was duly appointed to announce to you for
mally your nomination by the Republican National Convention, which met in
Philadelphia June 19 last, as the candidate of the Republican party for President
of the United States for the term beginning March 4th, 1901.
To be selected by the Republican party as their candidate for this great
office is always one of the highest honors which can be given to any man. This
nomination, however, comes to you, sir, under circumstances which give it a
higher significance and make it an even deeper expression of honor and trust
than usual. You were nominated unanimously at Philadelphia [Applause].
You received the unforced vote of every delegate from every State and every
Territory [Continued applause]. The harmony of sentiment which appears on
the face of the record was but the reflection of the deeper harmony which ex
isted in the hearts and minds of the delegates. Without faction, without dis
sent, with profound satisfaction and eager enthusiasm you were nominated for
the Presidency by the united voice of the representatives of our great party,
in which there is neither sign of division nor shadow of turning [Great ap
plause]. Such unanimity, always remarkable, is here the more impressive
because it accompanies a second nomination to the great office which you have
held for four years. It is not the facile triumph of hope over experience, but
the sober approval of conduct and character tested in many trials and tried by
heavy and extraordinary responsibilities [ Applause].
* With the exception of the period in which Washington organized the na-

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tion and built the State, ahd of those other awful years when Lincoln led his
people through the agony of civil war and saved from destruction the work of
Washington, there has never been a Presidential term in our history so
crowded with great events, so filled with new and momentous questions, as
that, which is now drawing to its end. True to the declarations which, were
made at St. Louis in 1896, you, sir, united with the Republicans in Congress
in the revision of \he tariff and the re-establishment of the protective policy
[Great applause]. You maintained our credit and upheld the gold standard,
leading the party by your advice to the passage of the great measure which
is to-day the bulwark of both [Great applause]. You led again in the poliey
which has made Hawaii a possession of the United States [Great applause].
On all these questions you fulfilled the hopes and justified the confidence of the
people, who four years ago put trust in our prcfmises. But on all these- ques
tions you had as guides not only your own principles, the well considered re
sults of years of training and reflection, but also the plain declarations of the
National Convention which nominated you in 1896 [Applause]. Far different
was it when the Cuban question, which we had also promised to settle, brought
first war, then peace, with Spain. Congress declared war, put you, as Com
mander-in-Chief, had to carry it on [Applause]. You did so, ahd history records
unbroken victory from the first shot of the " Nashville " to the day when the
protocol was signed [Enthusiastic applause]. The peace you had to make
alone. Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines; you had to assume alone the re
sponsibility of taking them all from Spain [Continued applause], Alone and
weighted with the terrible responsibility of the unchecked war powers of the
Constitution, you were obliged to govern these islands, and to repress rebellion
and disorder in the Philippines. No party creed defined the course you were to
follow. Courage, foresight, comprehension of American interests, now and
in the uncharted future, faith in the American people and in their fitness for
great tasks, were your only guides and counselors [Great applause]. Thus
you framed and put in operation this great new policy which has made us at
once masters of the Antilles and a great Eastern power, holding firmly our
possessions on both sides of the Pacific [Enthusiastic and long continued ap
plause]. ,
The new and strange ever excite fear, and the courage and prescience which
accept them always arouse criticism and attack. Yet a great departure and a
new policy were never more quieldy justified than these undertaken by you.
On the possession of the Philippines rests the admirable diplomacy which
warned all nations that American trade was not to be shut out of China. It is
to Manila that we owe the ability to send troops and ships to the defense of
our Ministers, our missionaries, our Consuls and our merchants in China [Ap
plause] , instead of being compelled to leave our citizens to the casual protec
tion of other Powers, as would have been unavoidable had we flung the Philip
pines away [Great applause]. Rest assured, sir, that the vigorous measures
which you have thus been enabled to take, and' all further measures in the same
direction which you may take, for the protection of American lives and prop
erty, will receive the hearty support of the people of the United States [Enthu
siastic applause], who are now, as always, determined that the American citi
zen shall be protected at any cost in all his rights everywhere and at all times
[Continued great applause]. It is to Manila again, to our fleet in the bay, and
our army on the land, that we shall owe the power when these scenes of blood
in China are closed, to exact reparation, to enforce stern justice, and to insist
in the final settlement upon an open door to all that vast market for our fast
growing commerce [Applause]. Events moving with terrible rapidity have
been swift witnesses to the wisdom of your action in . the East. The Phila
delphia Convention has adopted your policy both in the Antilles and in the
Philippines, and has made it that of the Republican party [Enthusiastic ap
plause]. Your election, sir, next November, assures to us the continuance of that
policy abroad and in our new possessions. To intrust these difficult and vital
questions to other hands, at once incompetent and hostile, would be a disaster
tp us and a still more unrelieved disaster to our posterity. Your election also

means not only protection to our industries but the maintenance of a sound
currency and of the gold standard, the very corner stones of our economic and
financial welfare [Great applause]. Should they he shaken, as they would be
by the success of our opponents, the whole fabric of our business confidence and
prosperity would fall into ruin. Your defeat would be the signal for the advance
of free trade, for the anarchy of a debased and unstable currency, for business
panic, depression and hard times, and for the wreck of our foreign policy. Your
election and the triumph of the Republican party— which we believe to be as
sure as the coming of the day [Great applause]— will make certain the steady
protection of our industries, sound money, and a vigorous and intelligent for
eign policy. They will continue those conditions of good government and wise
legislation so essential to the prosperity and well being which have blessed our
country so abundantly during the past four years [Long continued applause].
Thus announcing to you, sir, your nomination as the Republican candidate
for the Presidency, we have the honor also to submit to you the declaration of
principles made by the National Convention, which we trust will receive your
approval. We can assure you of the faithful and earnest support of the Re
publican party in every State, and we beg you to believe that it is with feelings
of' the deepest personal gratification that we discharge here to-day this honora
ble duty imposed upon us by the Convention [Enthusiastic and long continued
applause].

Speech of President McKinley
at Canton, Ohio, July 12, 1900, Upon the Occasion of the Visit
of the Committee Appointed to Notify Him of His Nomination
for the Presidency by the Republican National Convention at
Philadelphia, Pa.
Senator Lodge, and Gentlemen of the Notification Committee :
The message which you bring to me is one of signal honor. It is also a
summons to duty. A single nomination for the office of President by a great
party which in thirty-two years out of forty has been triumphant at national
elections is a distinction which I gratefully cherish. To receive a unanimous
renomination by the same party is an expression of regard and a pledge of con
tinued confidence for. which it is difficult to make adequate acknowledgment.
If anything exceeds the honor of the office of President of the United States
it is the responsibility which attaches to it. Having been invested with both,
I do not under-appraise either.
Any one who has borne the anxiety and burdens of the Presidential office,
especially in time of national trial, cannot contemplate assuming it a second
time without profoundly realizing the severe exactions and the solemn obliga
tions which it imposes, and this feeling is accompanied by the momentous prob
lems which now press for settlement. If my countrymen shall confirm the
action. of the Convention at our national election in November, I shall, craving
Divine 'guidance; undertake the exalted trust, to administer it for the interest
and honor of the country, and the well-being of the new peoples who have be
come objects of our care [Great applause]. The declaration of principles
adopted hy the Convention has my hearty approval. At some future date I
will consider its subjects in detail and will by letter communicate to your Chair
man a more formal acceptance of the nomination.
On a like occasion four years ago I said: "
The party that supplied by legislation, the vast revenues for the conduct of our great
est war ; that promptly restored the credit o,f the country at Its close ; that from Its
abundant revenues paid off a large share of the debt incurred by this war, and that re-

sumed specie payments and placed our paper currency upon a sound and enduring basis,
can be safely trusted to preserve both our credit and currency, with honor, stability and
inviolability. The American people hold the financial honor of our Government as sacred
as our flag, and can be relied upon to guard It with the same sleepless vigilance. They
hold its preservation above party fealty, and have often demonstrated that party ties
avail nothing when the spotless credit of our country Is threatened.
• * * The dollar paid to the farmer, the wage-earner, and the pensioner must con
tinue forever equal in purchasing and debt-paying power to the dollar paid to any Govern
ment creditor.
* • • Our industrial supremacy, our productive capacity, our business and com
mercial prosperity, our labor and Its rewards, our national credit and currency, our proud
financial honor and our splendid free citizenship, the birthright of every American, are
all involved in the pending campaign, and thus every home in the land is directly and inti
mately connected with their proper settlement.
* * * Our domestic trade must be won back and our idle working people em
ployed in gainful occupations at American wages. Our home market must be restored to
its proud rank of first in the world, and our foreign trade, so precipitately cut off by ad
verse national legislation, reopened on fair and equitable terms for our surplus agricultural
and manufacturing products.
* * * Public confidence must be restored at home. * • » The Government
of the United States must raise money enough to meet both its current expenses and in
creasing needs. . its revenues should be so raised as to protect the material interests of
our people, with the lightest possible drain upon their resources, and maintain that high
standard of civilization which has distinguished our country for more than a century of
its existence. - <
* * • The national credit, which has thus far fortunately resisted every assault
upon it, must and will be upheld and strengthened. If sufficient revenues are provided
for the support of the Government there will be no necessity for borrowing money and
increasing the public debt.
Three and one-half years of legislation and administration have been con
cluded since these words were spoken. Have those to whom was confided the
direction of the Government kept their pledges? The record is made up. The
people are not unfamiliar with what has been accomplished. The gold standard
has been reaffirmed and strengthened [Gre&t applause]. The endless chain has
been broken, and the drain upon our gold reserve no longer frets us [Applause].
The credit of the country has been advanced to the highest place among all na
tions [Great applause]. We are refunding our bonded debt bearing three and
four and five per cent, interest at two per cent, a lower rate than that of any
other country, and already more than three hundred millions have been so
funded, with a gain to the Government of many millions of dollars [Continued
applause]. Instead of free silver at 16 to 1 [laughter], for which our opponents
contended four years ago, legislation has been enacted which, while utilizing all
forms of our money, secures one fixed value for every dollar, and that the best
known to the civilized world [Great and long continued applause].
A tariff which protects American labor and industry and provides ample
revenue has been written in public law [Applause]. We have lower interest
and higher wages; more money and fewer mortgages [Applause]. The world's
markets have been opened to American products, which go now where they have
never gone before [Great applause]. We have passed from a bond issuing to a
bond paying nation [Applause] ; from a nation of borrowers to a nation of lendr
ers [Applause]; from a deficiency in revenue to a surplus; from fear to confi
dence; from enforced idleness to profitable employment [Great applause]. The
public faith has been upheld; public order has been maintained. We have pros
perity at home and prestige abroad [Enthusiastic and long continued applause].
Unfortunately the threat of 1896 has lust been renewed by the allied par
ties without abatement or modification. The gold bill has been denounced and
its repeal demanded. The menace of 16 to 1, therefore, still hangs over us
with all its dire consequences to credit and confidence, to business and indus
try. The enemies of sound currency are rallying their scattered forces. The
people must once more unite and overcome the advocates of repudiation and

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must not relax their energy until the battle for public honor and honest money
Shall again triumph [Great applause]. A Congress which will sustain and if
need be strengthen the present law can prevent a financial catastrophe which
every lover of the Republic is interested to avert. t
' Not satisfied with assaulting the currency and credit of the Government,
our political adversaries condemn the tariff law enacted at the extra session of
Congress in 1897, known as the Dingley act, passed in obedience to the will of
the people expressed at the election in the preceding November, a law which at
once stimulated our industries, opened the idle factories and mines and gave
to the laborer and to the farmer fair returns for their toil and investment.
Shall we go back to a tariff which brings deficiency in our revenues and destruc
tion to our industrial enterprises? [Cries of "No!"] " ,-
Faithful to its pledges in these internal affairs, how has the Government
discharged its international duties?
Our platform of 1896 declared, "The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled
by the United States and no foreign power should be permitted to interfere
with them." [Applause.] This purpose has been fully accomplished by an
nexation, and delegates from these beautiful islands participated in the Con
vention for which you speak to-day [Great applause]. In the great conference
of nations at The Hague we reaffirmed before the world the Monroe doctrine
and our adherence to it, and our determination not to participate in the com
plications of Europe. We have happily ended the European alliance in Samoa,
securing to ourselves one of the most valuable harbors in the Pacific Ocean;
while the open door in- China gives to us fair and equal competition in the vast
trade of the Orient {.Great applause].
Some things have happened which were not promised, nor even foreseen, and
our purposes in relation to them must not be left in doubt. A just war has
been 'waged for humanity, and with it have come new problems and responsi
bilities. Spain has been ejected from the Western Hemisphere, and our flag
floats over her former territory [Great applause]. Cuba has been liberated,
and our guarantees to her people will be sacredly executed [Applause]. A
beneficent government has been provided for Porto Rico. [Great applause].
The Philippines are ours and American authority must be supreme throughout
the archipelago [Long .continued applause]. There will be amnesty broad and
liberal, but no abatement pf our rights, no abandonment of our duty [Applause].
There must be no scuttle policy [Tremendous applause, long continued]. We
will fulfill in the Philippines the , obligations imposed by the triumph of our
arms and by the treaty of peace, by international law, by the nation's sense of
honor, and more than all by the rights, interests and conditions of the Philip
pine peoples themselves [Great applause]. N° outside interference blocks the
way to peace and a stable government. The obstructionists are here,, .not else!
where [Laughter and great applause]. They may postpone but they cannot de
feat the realization of the high purpose of this nation to restore order in the
islands and establish a just and generous government, in which the inhabitants
shall haye the largest participation for which they are capable [Great applause].
The organized forces which have been misled into rebellion have been dispersed
'by our faithful soldiers and sailors, and the people of the islands, delivered
from anarchy, pillage and oppression, recognize American sovereignty as the
symbol and pledge of peace, justice, law, religious freedom, education,; the se
curity of life and property, and the welfare and prosperity of their several com
munities [Great applause].
We reassert the early principle of the Republican party, sustained by un
broken judicial precedents, that the representatives of the people, in Congress
assembled, have full legislative power over territory belonging to the United
States [Tremendous applause], subject to the fundamental safeguards of liberty,
justice and personal rights, and are vested with ample authority to act " for the
highest interests of our nation and the people intrusted to its care." [Long
continued applause.] This doctrine, first proclaimed in the cause of freedom,
will never be used as a weapon for oppression [Tremendous applause].
I am glad to be assured by you that what we have done in the Far East
has the approval of the country. The sudden and terrible crisis in China calls

for the gravest consideration, and you will not expect from me now any fur*n®r
expression than to say that my best efforts shall be given to the immediate
purpose of protecting the lives of our citizens who are in peril, with the ultimate
object of the peace and welfare of China, the safeguarding of all our treaty
rights, and the maintenance of those principles of impartial intercourse to
which the civilized world is pledged [Enthusiastic applause].
I cannot conclude without congratulating my countrymen upon the strong
national sentiment which finds expression in every part of our common country,
and the increased respect with which the American name is greeted throughout
the world [Great applause].
We have been moving in untried- paths, but our steps have been guided by
honor and duty. Tffere will be no turning aside, no wavering, no retreat [Ap
plause]. No blow has been struck except for liberty and humanity, and none
will be [Great applause]. We will perform without fear every national and in
ternational obligation [Great applause]. The Republican party was dedicated
to freedom forty-four years ago. It has been the party of liberty and emanci
pation from that hour; not of profession, but of performance [Great applause].
It broke the shackles of 4,000,000 slaves and made them free, and to the party
of Lincoln has come another supreme opportunity which it has bravely met In^
the liberation of 10,000,000 of the human family from the yoke of imperialisii!,
[Tremendous applause and cheers, which broke out again and again]. In i,ti|
solution of great problems, in its performance of high duties, it has had the sup
port of members of all parties in the past, and confidently invokes their co
operation in the future.
Permit me to express, Mr. Chairman, my most sincere appreciation of the
complimentary terms in which you convey the official notice of my nomination,
and my thanks to the members of the Committee and to the great constituency
which they represent, for this additional evidence of their favor and support
[Great and long continued applause].

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM, 1900
The Republicans of the United States, through their chosen representatives, met in
National Convention, looking back upon an unsurpassed record of achievement and looking
forward into a great field of duty and opportunity, and appealing to the judgment of-their
countrymen, make these declarations :
THE ACTION OF 1896 JUSTIFIED — The expectation In which the American peo
ple, turning from the Democratic party, intrusted power four years ago to a Republican
Chief Magistrate and a Republican Congress, has been met and satisfied. When the people
then assembled at the polls, after a term of Democratic legislation and administration
business was dead, industry paralyzed and the National, .credit disastrously impaired The
country's capital was hidden away and its labor distressed and unemployed. The Demo
crats had no other plan with which to improve the ruinous conditions which they had them
selves produced than to coin silver at the ratio of six-teen to one. The Republican party
denouncing this plan as sure to produce, conditions even worse than those from which
relief was sought, promised to restore prosperity by means of two legislative measures — a
Protective Tariff and a law making gold the standard of value. The people by great major-
mes Issued to the Republican par.ty a commission to enact these laws. The commission
Has been executed, and the Republican promise is redeemed. Prosperity more general and
more abundant than we have ever known has followed these enactments. There is no
onger controversy as to the value of any Go-wwnment obligations. Every American dollar
is a gold dollar or Its assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than that of
a.?rv,na,tlcm- CaPltal is ful'y employed and labor everywhere is profitably occupied. No
single fact can more strikingly tell the story of what Republican Government means to the
?£}2?l7 VJS5. tys— that while during the whole period of one hundred and seven years from
1790 to 1897 there was an excess of exports over imports of only $383,028,497, there has
been In the short three years of the present Republican administration an excess of exports
over imports in the 'enormous sum of $1,483,537,094.
THE WAR WITH SPAIN — And while the American people, sustained by this Re
publican legislation, have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their business and
commerce, they have conducted and in victory concluded a war for liberty and human
rights. No thought of National aggrandizement tarnished the high purpose with which
American standards were unfurled. It was a war unsought and patiently resisted, but
when it came the American Government was ready. Its fleets were cleared for action. Its
Srroies were in the field, and the quick and signal triumph of Its forces on land and sea
ore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and sailors, to the skill and foresight
of Republican statesmanship. To ten millions of the human race there was given " a new
Birth of freedom," and to tne American people a new and noble responsibility. ,

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PRESIDENT M'KINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION  We indorse the administration
of President William McKinley.- Its acts have been established In wisdom and In patriot
ism,, and at home and abroad It has dlstinatly elevated and extended the Influence of the
American nation. Walking untried paths and facing unforeseen responsibilities, President
McKinley has been in every situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman,
clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action, always Inspiring and deserving the con
fidence of his countrymen.
PROSPERITY AND THE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE  In asking the American
people to Indorse this Republican record and to renew their commission to the Republican
party, we remind them. of the fact that the menace to their prosperity has always resided
in Democratic principles and no less in the general incapacity of the Democratic party to
conduct public affairs. The prime essential of business prosperity Is public confidence in
the good sense of the Government and its ability to deal intelligently with each new prob
lem of administration and legislation.. That confidence the Democratic party has never
earned. It is hopelessly inadequate, and the country's prosperity, when Democratic success
at the polls is announced, halts and ceases in mere anticipation of Democratic blunders
and failures.
CURRENCY, — We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard and
declare our confidence In the wisdoni of the legislation of the Fifty-sixth Congress by wtfich
the parity of all our money and the stability of our currency upon a gold basis has been
secured. We recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and business
activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of further lowering the rates of
interest, we favor such monetary legislation as will enable the varying needs of the season
and of all sections to be promptly met in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor
steadily employed and commerce enlarged. The volume of money In circulation was never
so great per capita as It is to-day.
FREE COINAGE OF SILVER  We declare our steadfast opposition to the free
and unlimited coinage of silver. No measure to that end could be considered which was
without the support of the leading commercial countries of the world. However firmly
Republican legislation may seem to have secured the country against the peril of base and
discredited currency, the election of a Democratic President could not fail to impair the
country's credit arid to bring once more into question the intention of the American people
to maintain upon the gold standard the parity of their money circulation. The Democratic
party must be convinced that the American people will never tolerate the Chicago platform.
TRUSTS. — We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest co-operation of
capital to meet new business conditions and especially to extend our rapidly increasing
foreign trade, but we condemn all conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict bust
ness, to create monopolies, to limit production, oi' to control prices, and favor such legisla
tion as will effectively restrain and prevent all such abuses, protect and promote competi
tion and secure the rights of producer, laborers ahd all who are engaged in industry and
commerce. PROTECTION. — We renew our faith in the policy of Protection to American labor.
In that policy our industries have been established diversified and maintained. By protect
ing the home market competition has been stimulated and production cheapened. Oppor
tunity to the inventive genius of our people has been secured and wages in every depart
ment of labor maintained at high rates, higher now than ever before, and always distin
guishing our working people in their better condition of life from those of any competing
country. Enjoying the blessings of -the American common school, secure in the right of
self-governmeat and protected In the occupancy of their own markets, their constantly ln-^
creasing knowledge and skill have enabled them to finally enter the markets of the world.
We favor the associated policy of reciprocity so directed as to open our markets on favor
able terms for what we do ,not ourselves produce in return for free foreign markets.
LABOR.— In the further interest of American workmen we favor a more effective
restriction on the Immigration of cheap labor from foreign lands, the extension of oppor-
afjipities for education for working children, the raising of the age limit for child labor,
jfejprotectlon of free labor as against contract convict labor; and an effective system of
Wmjfa' insurance.
i****1 SHIPS, — Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for nine-tenths of our foreign
carrying Is a great loss to the industry of this country. It is also a serious danger to our
trade, for Its sudden withdrawal In the event of European war would seriously cripple
our expanding foreign commerce. The National defense and naval efficiency of this country,
moreover, supply a compelling reason for legislation which will enable us to recover our for
mer place among the trade carrying fleets of the world.
OUR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.— -The nation owes a debt of profound gratitude
to the soldiers and sailors who have fought its battles, and It is the Government's duty to
provide for the survivors and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the
country's wars. The pension laws, founded In this just sentiment, should be liberal and
should be liberally administered, and preference shouhj be given wherever practicable with
respect to employment in the public service to soldiers and sailors and to their widows and
orphans. THE CIVIL SERVICE. — We commend the policy of the Republican party in the
fcienCy of the Civil Service. The administration has acted wisely In Its efforts to secure
public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippine Islands only those whose
less has been determined by training and experience. We believe that employment in
I public service In these territories should be confined as far as practicable to their inhab
its.
[ no disfranchisement OF VOTERS.— It was the plain purpose of the flfteenta

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amendment to the Constitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or color in reg
ulating the elective franchise. Devices of State governments, whether by statutory or con
stitutional enactment, to avoid the purpose of this amendment are revolutionary, and
should be condemned.
PUBLIC ROADS. — Public movements looking to a permanent improvement of the
roads and highways of the country meet with our cordial approval, and we recommend this
subject to the earnest consideration of the people and of the legislatures of the several
States. RURAL FREE DELIVERY  We favor the extension of the Rural Free Delivery
service wherever its extension may be justified.
FREE HOMES. — In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican party
to provide free homes on the public domain, we recommend adequate national legislation
to reclaim the arid lands of the United States, reserving control of the distribution of
water for irrigation to the respective States and Territories.
THE TERRITORIES — We favor home rule for, and the early admission to statehood
of, the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma.
THE DINGLEY ACT AND THE REVENUES  The Dingley Act. amended to pro
vide sufficient revenue for the conduct of the war, has so well performed Its work that it
has been possible to reduce the war debt in the sum of $40,000,000. So ample are the
Government's revenues and so great is the public confidence in the integrity of its obliga
tions that its newly funded two per cent, bonds sell at a premium. The country is now
justified in expecting and it will be the policy of the Republican party to bring about a
reduction of the war taxes.
ISTHMIAN CANAL. — We favor the construction, ownership, control and protection
of an Isthmian Canal by the Government of the United States. New markets are neces
sary for the increasing surplus of our farm products. Every effort should be made to
open and obtain new markets, especially in the Orient, and the administration is warmly to
be commended for its successful effort to commit all trading and colonizing nations to the
policy of the open door in China.
A DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE — In the Interest of our expanding commerce
we recommend that Congress create a Department of Commerce and Industries in charge
of a Secretary with a seat in the Cabinet. The United States consular system should be
reorganized under the supervision of this new Department upon such a basis of appoint
ment and tenure as will render it still more serviceable to the nation's increasing trade.
The American Government must protect the person and property of every citizen wher
ever they are wrongfully violated or placed in peril.
THE "WOMEN OF AMERICA. — We congratulate the women of America upon their
splendid record of public service in the volunteer aid association and as nurses in camp and
hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the Eastern and Western Indies, and
we appreciate their faithful co-operation in all works of education and Industry.
OUR FOREIGN POLICY — President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of
the United States with distinguished credit to the American people. In releasing us from
the vexatious conditions of a European alliance for the government of Samoa, his course is
specially to be commended. By securing to our undivided control the most important island
of the Samoan group and the best harbor in the Southern Pacific, every American interest
has been safeguarded.
HAWAII.- — We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA — We commend the part taken by our Government
in the Peace Conference at The Hague. We assert our steadfast adherence to the policy
announced in the Monroe Doctrine. The provisions of the Hague Convention were wisely !
regarded when President McKinley tendered his friendly offices in the interest of peace
between Great Britain and the South African Republic. While the American Government
must continue the policy prescribed by Washington, affirmed by every succeeding President
and imposed upon us by The Hague treaty of non-intervention in European controversies,
the American people hope that a way may soon be found, honorable alike to both contending
parties, to terminate the strife between them.
THE PHILIPPINES— PORTO RICO — In accepting by the Treaty of Paris the just
responsibility of our victories in the Spanish War, the President and the Senate won the
undoubted approval of the American people. No other course was possible than to destroy
Spain's sovereignty throughout the Western Indies and in the Philippine Islands. That
course created our responsibility before the world and with the unorganized population
whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to provide for the maintenance of law and
order, and for the establishment of good government and for the performance of inter
national obligations. OUr authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever
sovereign rights were extended it became tlie high duty of the Government to maintain its
authority, to put down armed insurrection and to confer the blessings of liberty and civiliza
tion upon all the rescued peoples. The largest measure of self-government consistent with
their welfare and our duties shall be secured to them by law.
CUBA. — To Cuba independence and self-government were assured in the same voice
by which war was declared, and to the letter this pledge shall be performed.
The Republican party upon its history, and upon this declaration of principles and ;
icies, confidently invokes the considerate and approving judgment of the American peop^r
PUBLISHED BY at ,.
.p^Splffifo REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE,
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